When diagnosing a dental condition, a dentist can use a series of subjective tools to estimate the nature and severity of the condition. These tools include: a patient""s complaint; a visual examination for coloration or structural abnormalities; and, a selective physical probing for relative variations in tooth hardness. Each of these observational tools is non-quantitative, and the results are recorded manually using non-specific terminology.
Dentists also use radiography, which allows for a physical record to be generated which can be read by subsequent diagnosticians, but it does not offer detection of all the possible conditions relevant to dental treatment.
Potential problems arising from use of the above diagnostics might include: inadequate treatment; excessive treatment; lack of acceptable documentation of diagnoses for submission to insurance companies for reimbursement; and, lack of objective documentation of diagnoses for defense to legal claims arising from failed treatments.
The dental establishment continues to endeavor to provide the optimal service to patients in spite of the risks posed by flawed or inadequate diagnoses. Consequently, all parties would benefit from a system of acquiring objective, quantitative, in vivo diagnostic data such as provided by the disclosed method and apparatus.
It is well established from laboratory studies that ultrasound can be used to detect a variety of dental conditions, including smooth surface lesions (U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,177), jawbone cavitations (U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,221), and the status of root canal treatment (U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,813). The disclosures in these patents relate to research conducted in the late 1960s and early 70s: For instance, Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Measurements in Teeth, Arch Oral Biol; 14:745, 1969, Barber et al., and Ultrasonic Measurement of Dental Enamel Demineralization; Ultrasonics, 9:269, 1973, Gerhard et al.
Additionally, an application using an ultrasonic array probe to evaluate oral topography is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,821, which issued Apr. 18, 2000.
Notwithstanding the methods and techniques previously employed to diagnose dental conditions and to acquire ultrasonic data from dental structures, there is a continuing need for refined and enhanced procedures which can be characterized as follows: A method of mapping the internal structure of dental formations by emitting an ultrasonic pulse to impinge on said structure, and recording the ultrasonic response of said impinged formation, said method comprising:
providing a transducer means positioned to produce an outgoing ultrasonic pulse for impinging directly on said dental formation;
measuring the ultrasonic response from said dental formation; and
displaying a representation of said response to depict the internal structure of said dental formation.
The foregoing method can be implemented by an apparatus for mapping the internal structure of a dental formation, said apparatus comprising:
a transducer array for emitting and detecting ultrasonic pulses;
an articulating means to move said transducer array over and around said dental formation;
a power source for activating the movement of said articulating means;
an electrical power source for exciting said transducer array;
an amplification means for enhancing said ultrasonic response; and
a computing means for converting said ultrasonic response into an interpretable display.